Speaking from experience, National Park Girls is not particularly accurate in its depiction of working for the National Park Service, however, the game itself admits this, so this is fine.

It's a nice VN that has a ton of heart, and isn't a joke. Everyone involved has given it their all and it accumulates to an experience that more than does its initial premise justice. I don't have much else to say other than I'm happy picking this up Day 1 and I'm looking forward to the rest of the episodes. If this inspires someone to take up a career in the field, that can only be a good thing.

Disclaimer: This is a Review of the first episode only and might get edited with more episodes getting released.

As someone who looks forward to yuri visual novels, I was very excited when I first heard about the release of National Park Girls,[noisypixel.net] a game developed by the same studio who released another yuri visual novel that I enjoyed titled Highway Blossoms. National Park Girls seems to be built on a unique and hilarious premise that I just had to experience.

Being that I am also a fan of romantic comedy, in general, having interest in this title was a no brainer — I mean one character is a cute girl with a volcano on her head, which is already more than enough of a reason to get curious about the story. After finishing the game’s first episode, I found an enjoyable experience that has me excited to dive into the later episodes, but the messaging might catch readers off guard.

https://youtu.be/1PrVYRnqnVA

You should keep in mind that currently there is only the first episode of National Park Girls available. For those who might be confused, the episodes function as chapters and the first episode only introduces the characters. It’s good to mention that this game is not complete yet and the runtime of the first episode is kept pretty short. The developer has already announced that the game will have five episodes in total which will each be released in the future. The next episode of National Park Girls is slated to release this summer.

National Park Girls follows the story of a girl, named Eve, who is a park ranger and just got assigned to a remote cabin post. Her characteristics portray her as pretty tired as she has doubts about the true purpose of her job. Furthermore, there just so happens to be rumors that the remote cabin she is stationed at is haunted. In the mix of her dealing with the coming to terms with living in a haunted space, three girls suddenly show up and totally throw her off. What’s more surprising is how the girls introduce themselves, you see, they claim to be manifestations of Zion, Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks.

As aforementioned, the first episode only features the introduction of the characters, so this game does not contain a real storyline yet and you only get see a small preview of the character’s personalities. The scenes are all light-hearted so far with a touch of comedic moments and the girls are all come off as adorable. I ended up enjoying the close relationship that the three national park girls have as they really seem to support each other while trying to solve their problems together. There are also some themes of pollution brought up during the story as the game critiques humanity in general and shows us how cruel people can be to the planet — without even noticing themselves. With that said, I found some of these scenes to be a bit over dramatic as the characters merely push their ideas of humans onto the reader.

Surprisingly, there is English voice acting available in National Park Girls, which I thought was done very well and ended up benefiting the immersion of the story. The voices matched each girl’s respective personalities and it all sounded very natural even during emotional moments when they were sobbing or getting upset. I’d also like to point out that the soundtrack is very calm and matches the nature theme of the story perfectly.

National Park Girls used cute girls to make me questions humanity all over again and it worked. I ended up admitting that even I am not always aware of the consequences of some of my actions. Still, the writing can be overly dramatic with its messaging and that might make rub readers the wrong way.

While the first episode was very short and I only had a small insight into the entire story, I am already looking forward to the next episode — and of course its romance as well. This game definitely has the potential to become a great visual novel of decent quality and a unique plot to top it off.

I might add some more things once more Episodes get released. National Park Girls is a very polished VN, where you play as a Park Ranger and meet all the different National Parks, yes you meet them, because all of them are young cute girls. Sounds kinda weird, but also interesting and that is exactly what this is. A refreshing and new Idea that although it just started and is only the first Episode, already feels like a very cute and well done Story. The Art is Phenomenal and the Game has english Voice Acting which is something so rare that I always am super excited if a VN gets released that has it. As a Result there are also no grammer or spelling mistakes. What I also really like is the Menu and the HUD, they really made it their own since it looks different then every other VN I have played yet.

Since it has such a low Pricetag I would really recommend you checking it out. Also there is no 18+ Patch since this is an All Ages VN :)

Overall Score: 8.9/10

Check out my Currator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34401214/

I bought this VN thinking it was a complete joke, but man this thing got me hooked. Like hands down amazing. From the Voice Acting to the art and the animation as well. Great job to all of the devs who worked on it. Really looking forward to Episode 2 and the rest. Going to buy the Soundtrack cause that's also amazing.

10/10 Would recommend even at full price

Brief spoiler-free review
If you're here for happy gays, or the coyote pup being cute, maybe check out something else.
The art and production quality is very good! But this is less romance-focused than I initially thought - it's still definitely interesting, although some parts of the plot are definitely weaker than others. Overall it was kind of disappointing for me personally, but it still had some highlights.

Major content warnings for late game (spoilers)
Animal death, Alcoholism, Suicidal ideation

SPOILER FILLED REVIEW BELOW
As an adult with critical thinking skills, I know you shouldn't go around feeding wild animals - but this game seems to be intent on teaching me that lesson anyway. Eve feeds a coyote pup and basically takes it in as a pet, which is irresponsible, yes, but then they spend a good chunk of gameplay just having him be a cute dog, just a sweet little guy, and he's even on the main menu! Anddddd then he goes and hurts someone and Eve has to put him down. The game even ends with a funeral for the coyote pup, which gets more focus in this story than the relationship between Eve and Yosemite. Honestly, they don't get anywhere close to romance until the last chapter, and we get a confession and a forehead kiss. That's about as much as you're gonna get from these two, so if you're here for the Gays(tm) there really isn't a ton this game has to offer, and there's very little build up to the confession either, it just feels thrown in out of nowhere. Also, most of the content of this game is complaining from Eve or Yosemite, and it gets pretty grating after a while. It also doesn't feel like there's really a conclusion to Yosemite's fear of forgetting and all of that, I guess it just gets resolved off-screen in the time skip before the last episode? But it's pretty disappointing not to get anything from that. Yellowstone is wonderful though she's the real MVP and I love her, and Zion is also very good.

C O M F Y and W H O L E S O M E .

This isn't just a meme VN banking on a meme premise, it's genuinely very well polished and lovingly crafted. If you happen to be weary of western VNs, there is little to no weeaboo or intrusive japanese influence outside of the stunning artstyle. Hell, it isn't even yuri unless you'd like to see it as yuri.

There are no choices or gameplay interactions here however, it's a very straightforward VN. That might not be particularly appealing to some, but I enjoyed my time immensely nonetheless.

Yellowstone is a cute, and I want her eruptions to disintegrate me into soot along with half of the United States!

So far, the story is amazing. There's some comedy and drama which blends in really well. The characters are amazing and interesting too. I like the chemistry between Eve and Yosemite, I can't wait for the next episode to come out.

There's one thing lacking about the VN is that, it lacks a backlog. I sometimes accidentally skip dialogue and there is no way to go back conviniently because there is no backlog

National Park Girls isn't as good as I hoped it would be. I played, but didn't especially enjoy, the previous game by the same devs - Highway Blossoms - and this more of the same. I loved the artwork and concept, but in both games the big problem for me is the characterization.

The main character is incredibly unlikable. She is extremely arrogant. She works at a national park, but instead of using her role to support and educate the visitors, she sees them as a corruption of the park's natural beauty. You'd think perhaps she is a radical environmentalist, someone who truly, legitimately cares about nature... But then one of the first things she does is feed and adopt a coyote, treating it like her pet instead of a wild animal. That's selfish and entitled behavior, rooted in anthropocentrism! She whines about everyone else's carbon footprint while she is the one driving a truck. She denigrates the idea of school because she considers herself too good for it. She foolishly tries to put out a forest fire alone, instead of calling it in. She is smug, self-righteous and preachy, and treats everyone around her like trash. Brings to mind the old saying - if everyone you meet seems like an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, maybe it's you who is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Now, there is potential that in later episodes the protagonist has some kind of moral awakening, and that the three sprites she meets will be like Scrooge's Christmas ghosts... But already in the first episode there is no plot point to challenge her prejudices. This is essentially the same problem that existed in Highway Blossoms. I don't feel like I'm on a journey with a person who will grow in any meaningful way. It seems that the character has already decided up-front how the world works, and everything they experience will just reinforce their black-and-white worldview. It would be okay if the other characters were more varied, but they all seem similarly jaded (or insufferably perky). It's too bad, because this is a neat concept.

I have read many visual novels in my lifetime and I got to say that this one has to be my favorite one at the time of this review.

Yellowstone is not a yandere that kills 50 people a year, and dissolves their bodies in gysers. Literally unplayable.